The above-referenced pending patent applications set forth, in one aspect, a method for the making of belts through the use of a belt buckle having a prong pivotally supported on an open frame of the buckle, a belt blank having a prong-passage opening therethrough at a location distal from a first end of the belt blank, and a belt-retaining loop member. The method, in such one aspect, comprises the steps of:
(a) inserting the first end of the belt blank through the buckle open frame; PA1 (b) folding the belt blank onto itself about a fold line extending through the belt blank prong-passage opening and inserting the buckle prong through the prong-passage opening; PA1 (c) providing a marketing indicator with an adhesive backing selected to adhere to the belt blank; PA1 (d) adhering the marketing indicator to the belt blank within the fold of the belt blank at a first location using the adhesive backing; PA1 (d) applying the belt-retaining loop member to the folded belt blank at least in part within the fold of the belt blank at a second location to provide an unsecured assembly of the folded belt blank, the buckle, the marketing indicator and the belt-retaining loop member; PA1 (f) inverting the unsecured assembly of the folded belt blank, the buckle, the marketing indicator and the belt-retaining loop member; and PA1 (g) securing the inverted secured assembly of the folded belt blank, the buckle, the marketing indicator and the belt-retaining loop member.
The method, in its step (g) is practiced in a manner whereby the stitching creates a line of perforations in the marketing indicator which facilitates removal of the marketing indicator by tearing across the line of perforations.
Applicants have found that, for particularly narrow width belts, wherein adjacent stitches are made closer than for wider belts, the perforations are so close as to render the marketing indicator too readily removable. Thus, the area retaining the exposed marketing indicator with its parent unperforated part within the fold becomes quite limited, resulting in a less than desired assembly. In particular, applicants have reached an optional material for the marketing indicator strip member, i.e., polyesters, such as polyethyleneterephthalate (PET). This material selection, as is discussed in the second above-referenced application, is based on its characteristic of not taking on a permanent curvature set in the course of reeling marketing indicators. However, when perforated, polyesters tend to be readily tearable in the high density perforation setting arising in narrow width belts.